Public Lending Right for ebooks now a reality in the UK

IAF members Society of Authors (SoA) and the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) have long been lobbying for the extension of Public Lending Right (PLR) to allow authors to be paid for the remote lending of ebooks and audiobooks in the UK. New legislation has now received Royal Assent to make this a reality.

This complements the legislation passed in the Digital Economy Act 2010 which extended PLR to audiobooks and on-site loans of ebooks. Both organisations welcome the change that will finally enable authors to receive PLR payments for remote loans of their ebooks in the same way that they do for hard copies.

The Digital Economy Act 2017 now completes the picture to ensure authors will receive their PLR payments for books and audiobooks, ebooks and e-audiobooks whether loaned in the library or remotely. With an increase in the number of loans of ebooks to around 4m this year this is not a moment too soon.